Indian Institute of Management, Indore: Breaking myths of elitism
The spiralling drive up the hill to the Indian Institute of Management, Indore campus on a hillock in Rau is not the only dazzling thing about the institute and its surroundings.
A statue of a girl reading a book greets one outside the library, signifying importance of women's education. The massive main building is circular, signifying eternity.
The institute is the only one among the IIMs having a campus with a name - Prabandh Shikhar (Management Peak). The name does justice in describing the setting of the 200-acre campus sitting on a hillock surrounded by greenery.
"IIM-I had a humble beginning in 1998 in a building in Bijalpur on the outskirts of Indore with 40 students before moving to this sprawling campus and a larger student strength. The story so far has been of well earned success and the saga continues," said professor of economics Ganesh Kumar.
IIM-Indore will be the first among the country's top B-schools to launch a centre for Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) soon. The PURA scheme, drawn up by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is being run by the central government as part of its Vision 2020 initiative.
Participating in the government's unique "immersion programme", 240 students of IIM-I visited 16 districts while 40 of them went to Border Security Force bases on the borders with Pakistan, China and Bangladesh. This enabled students to gather first-hand knowledge of living conditions in rural areas and in the border areas.
"Apart from working on the broad guiding principles of inclusion, globalisation and growth, IIM-I is breaking the myths of elitism," said IIM-I director N. Ravichandran.
Post-graduate programme chair and professor of finance and accounting L.V. Ramanna told Hindustan Times: "Five years ago, students got associated with the district administration and came up with management solutions in public interest for traffic in the city."
